MUSIC

Soundtrack

The Next Best Thing

Maverick

Madonna, With Strong Supporting Cast

By DEIRDRE A. MASK

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Madonna kicks off her newest movie The Next Best Thing with a marvelous go-go soundtrack that will cement her status as an excellent singer and producer who occasionally tries to act. The most popular song on the album thus far, and the song most likely to show up in a WB show near you, is Madonna's quite gracious rendition of Don McLean's "American Pie." Everett, in typical gay-best-friend fashion, supports Madonna on backup vocals, a quite painful realization but no detriment to the song. Echoes of Madonna's most recent techno mantra style is quite clear, and William Orbit's synthesizer gets more than its fair share of song time, behind Madonna's vocals. Actually, the techno beat added to McLean's rather folksy song has, shall we say, a dollop more henna than is quite necessary, but it will make for a lovely video. Still, the sensual quality of the mature Madonna draws out feminine nuances in the song, and the nature of her changes in music rather cleverly revises the meaning of the lyrics. Come see the softer side of Madonna, the song beckons--probably because we've seen every other side of her already.

Madonna's new song "Time Stood Still," is the theme song for the movie, with another huge dollop of computer rendition and enough hot sax to make the stereo sweat. Yet, again Madonna shows her thoughtful bindi-wearing side, singing, "Maybe you're the next best thing to happen/All the things we might have been." Is this Madonna or her character in the movie singing the lyrics? Is there any difference?

The rest of the artists featured on the album are the type of young musicians who have been in the business for a while, but will inevitably, once they make it big, be described as having "burst onto the scene." Moby works his magic with the blues-tinged song from his album Play, "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" Beth Orton, whose album Central Reservation made many critics' best-of-1999 lists, croons "The Stars All Seem to Weep" in a far-away childlike voice that makes you want to hand her a box of tissues and some Godiva. In a slight concession to modern pop, Christina Aguilera also gets her props on the album, with a new song "Don't Make Me Love You," which is sure to slam Mandy Moore from the MTV countdown. Other artists include Olive, Solar Twins, Manu Chao and an instrumental by Gabriel Yared. All very eclectic music, all very cutting-edge, a conglomerate of music that should make for a rather interesting sound in a romantic comedy.

Actually, at this point in her career, Madonna is probably miles above criticism. Her cult of personality is so large that to even criticize her music seems something of a moot point. When asked how he felt about Madonna's version of his song, even Don McLean said, "I have received many gifts from God but this is the first time I have ever received a gift from a goddess." A-